The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing footwear, and more particularly to a method of making an article of footwear incorporating a knit upper that includes an integral footbed.
Most footwear include an upper and a sole secured to a lower surface of the upper. The upper provides a void that receives a wearer's foot and positions the foot with regard to the sole. The sole may provide traction or cushion for the foot under a variety of conditions, e.g., walking, running and/or standing. Uppers typically are formed from conventional materials, such as injection molded polymers, fabric manufactured from spooled yarn or thread, and leather or leather-like materials that are fit and assembled on a last to form a 3D shape for a foot. The upper may include more than one layer of materials to define an exterior layer, an intermediate layer, and an interior layer.
In many cases, the upper may be formed of multiple sections that are joined together to form the completed upper. These sections may be obtained by cutting the material from a larger sheet of material (e.g., a sheet of textile), injection molding techniques, and knitting or weaving a finished textile section. Synthetic or natural materials may be used in creating these sections, which are often joined and formed about a last to produce the upper. In this way, the sections are mechanically manipulated into conforming to the 3D contour of the last.
Footwear manufacturing techniques have evolved through time, however, most are still impaired by associated labor costs and overhead. For example, most conventional footwear are constructed from a variety of components that are precisely fit and overlapped relative to one another, then stitched together by a worker to form the upper of the footwear. The stitching process is very labor intensive and time-consuming. While many footwear manufacturers have outsourced their manufacturing process to countries having significant labor forces, the minimum wage and social tax in those countries has greatly increased the cost of labor in recent years. In turn, this has increased the cost to manufacture footwear.
Accordingly, there remains room for improvement in the area of footwear manufacturing to reduce labor costs and material costs.